Absence & Coverage Overview
When a colleague goes on leave, they can name you as the person who covers their work. Nothing becomes binding until you confirm it: every new substitution starts with the status Waiting for confirmation, and only you, as the substitute, can change it to accepted or declined.
This article shows where a substitution that is waiting for your answer appears in the Substitutions web part, how to accept or decline it, and what the other people involved see afterwards. It is written for the substitute. If you are the person who is going away, see KB10332. How to Name a Substitute When You Request Time Off.
Before you start
- You need Member (edit) access to the SharePoint site that holds the absence lists, like every other user of the product. Your administrator sets this up once for the whole company.
- A page with the Substitutions web part must be available to you: a SharePoint page or the Microsoft Teams app, depending on how your company published it.
- The product does not send e-mail or Teams messages when someone names you as a substitute. You find out by opening the web part, so ask your colleague or your manager where it is published and check it from time to time.
📝 Note
Substitutions come from two sources: a colleague can name you in an absence request (see KB10350. How Absence Requests and Substitutions Work Together), or a manager or the absent person can assign you directly (see KB10337. How to Assign a Substitute to Your Direct Report). You respond to both in the same way.
Find the substitutions waiting for your answer
- Open the page with the Substitutions web part.
- Select the I cover tab. It lists everyone you cover now or will cover later. If the I cover tab is the default tab of the web part, it opens by itself.
- Look for rows with the status Waiting for confirmation.
The number on the I cover tab is a badge: it counts the substitutions that are waiting for your confirmation, so you can see at a glance that something needs your attention.
Each row shows who you are asked to cover (with the caption "You cover this person"), the tasks the absent person has handed over after Responsibilities (if they entered any), the period, the kind of substitution (Temporary or Handover of duties) and the status. An open-ended handover shows "from" and the start date instead of a period.
Accept a substitution
- On the I cover tab, find the row with the status Waiting for confirmation.
- Check the person, the period and the Responsibilities. If the responsibilities are empty, agree the details with your colleague outside the product.
- Select Accept.
The message "You accepted the substitution." appears above the tabs and the row status changes from Waiting for confirmation to a phase that depends on the dates: Planned if the period has not started yet, or In progress if it has. The badge on the I cover tab decreases by one. No comment is requested.
Decline a substitution
- On the I cover tab, find the row with the status Waiting for confirmation.
- Select Decline.
The message "You declined the substitution." appears and the row status changes to Declined. The product does not ask for a reason, so tell your colleague or manager why you cannot help; otherwise they will not know until they look at the web part.
❗ Important
The answer cannot be changed from your side. After you decline, the Accept and Decline buttons disappear from the row, and an accepted substitution can only be cancelled by the absent person. If you declined by mistake, ask your colleague or manager to assign the substitution again.
You can also accept or decline from the Who covers whom tab: the same buttons appear on the rows where you are the substitute. See KB10348. How to Find Out Who Covers Whom.
What the others see afterwards
| Your action | Status of the substitution | What you see | What the absent person sees | What the manager sees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| None yet | Waiting for confirmation | A row with Accept and Decline, and a badge on the I cover tab | A row on the Covering me tab with the status Waiting for confirmation | For a substitution tied to the absence, the absence stays on the No substitute tab with the status "Waiting for" followed by your name |
| Accept | Accepted, shown as Planned or In progress | The row stays on the I cover tab until the period ends, without buttons | The same row with the status Planned or In progress | An absence tied to this substitution leaves the No substitute tab: it is now covered |
| Decline | Declined | The row stays with the status Declined until the period ends, without buttons | The row stays on the Covering me tab with the status Declined | An absence tied to this substitution appears on the No substitute tab with the status "declined" preceded by your name, with an Assign button to choose someone else |
The No substitute tab is available to managers who have direct reports in Microsoft Entra ID, and it is covered in KB10338. How to Find Absences Without a Substitute.
When the period ends
A substitution leaves the I cover and Covering me tabs after its end date. You can still find it for 30 days on the Who covers whom tab with the filter Ended. A substitution without an end date (a handover of duties) stays active until the absent person cancels it.
If you do not answer, the substitution simply stays Waiting for confirmation. The manager keeps seeing the absence as not covered, so answer as soon as you know whether you can help.
📝 Note
Accepting a substitution does not change the absence itself. The absence request keeps its own status, and it is shown in the Team Absence Calendar with the text "Covered by" next to your name while it is running. See KB10342. How to See Who Is Away Today and Who Covers Them.
